10 Foundational Physical Skills

Two weeks ago, we addressed the essential metabolic pathways that lends CrossFit to being an optimal workout program for those that want to maximize fat loss. This week, we will address the ten foundational physical skills that promote all around fitness.

Many people are split into two exercise camps. The first is cardio. This camp is mostly populated with women trying to lose weight or women who absolutely under no circumstances whatsoever want to be “bulky”. In the last blog article, we already addressed the reason why cardio doesn’t maximize weight and fat loss as it only operates in the oxidative pathway. Today, we just want to address the fact that cardio doesn’t encompass all that is necessary to deem a person “fit”.

The second camp is strength. This camp is mostly populated by men trying to “bulk up” (are we starting to see the societal pressures that have an impact on how men or women “should” workout?). Again, men who strength train only reside in the phosphagen and glycolytic pathways, never crossing into the oxidative which has it’s own issues for weight loss and fat loss. However, many people who tend to only lift weights have a major issue with their ability to operate in the oxidative pathway and tend to have weak cardiovascular fitness.

The major issue with both of these fitness camps is that we are missing the eight other components of fitness.

We’ve already addressed two of the biggest physical skills but the other eight include:

stamina-the ability to utilize energy (running or rowing long distances)

flexibility-the ability to touch your toes and supply a joint to move through a full range of motion (this is why we stretch after every workout)

power-ability of a muscle to apply maximum force in a short amount of time (box jumps)

speed-how fast you can move through a specified movement (500m row for time)